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SENATE No. 1. 



VALEDICTORY ADDRESS 



HIS EXCELLENCY 



ALEXANDER H. BULLOCK, 



TWO BRANCHES 



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January 7, 1869. 



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^BOSTON: 

WRIGHT & POTTER, STATE PRINTERS, 

79 Milk Street, (corner of Federal.) 

1869. 



ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen of the Senate, 

and of the House of Representatives : 

Before transferring to an eminent citizen of the 
Commonwealth the labors and responsibilities of the 
office to which he has been summoned by his fellow 
citizens in a manner which marks their appreciation 
of his private virtues and his public services, I deem 
it proper to communicate with the Legislature con- 
cerning several matters of grave import, affecting the 
moral and material interests of Massachusetts. Im- 
pressed with the duty of the Chief Magistrate to 
impart, and the right of the people to receive, the 
fullest and most precise information respecting the 
public business, I have the honor to present such in- 
formation in detail upon some of the measures which 



4 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

have been initiated, have progressed, or been matured 
during my official term. I have the honor to trans- 
mit at the same time, for the information of the 
Legislature, several reports of public officers, and 
other documents which merit the attention and may 
require the action of the General Court. 

THE PUBLIC FINANCE. 

A brief review of the financial results of the last 
three years will commend itself to the attention and 
thoughtful consideration of the tax-paying citizens of 
the Commonwealth. 

At the commencement of my official term the nation 
had just emerged from a long and costly war, which 
had entailed upon Massachusetts a heavy burden of 
indebtedness already accrued, with the inevitable con- 
tingency of a large prospective increase under the 
* operation of various acts of special legislation ren- 
dered necessary by the exigencies of the conflict. It 
should also be remembered that, in response to the 
demands of public enterprise, charity and education, 
Massachusetts has in this period, as before, gener- 
ously maintained her reputation, bestowing her 
munificence with unprecedented liberality. 

The result is strikingly apparent in the fact, that, 
while the floating or unfunded liabilities of the State 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 5 

have been reduced but little more than three 
millions of dollars since 1866, (amounting at the pres- 
ent time to nine hundred twenty-eight thousand dol- 
lars,) the funded debt has been enlarged upwards of 
seven millions during the same period, a net increase 
of more than two milHons having occurred within 
the last year. 

Among the causes directly and indirectly contribut- 
ing to this result may be enumerated the following : — 
First, the large disbursements required for the 
liquidation of State bounties remaining unpaid at the 
close of the war, the aggregate amount paid from the 
beginning being nearly four and a half millions of dol- 
lars in excess of the scrip issued for that purpose ; 
second, the continuance of State aid to the families and 
dependents of Massachusetts Volunteers, the re-im- 
bursement of which to cities and towns swells to an 
aggregate of three and three-quarters millions of dol- 
lars for the years 1866-7-8 ; third, the heavy drafts 
upon the treasury for the prosecution of the Troy and 
Greenfield Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel enterprise, for 
which, during the four years previous to 1868, nearly 
three millions of dollars in excess of the issue of scrip 
have been advanced from the proceeds of temporary 
loans and from the ordinary revenues of the Common- 
wealth, to which might be added another half million 



6 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

of dollars since advanced on the same account and in 
the same manner ; fourth, the largely increased inter- 
est on the public debt, and the high premium on gold, 
both amounting in the aggregate to an annual average 
of one million four hundred and fifty thousand dol- 
lars ; fifth, the extraordinary expenditures authorized 
by acts of special legislation in excess of previous esti- 
mates, — in some cases but partially provided for, and in 
others not even considered, in the basis of taxation, — 
amounting in a single year to more than eight hundred 
thousand dollars, and during the three years mentioned 
to more than one and a half millions of dollars ; sixth, 
the loan in aid of the Boston, Hartford and Erie Hail- 
road, authorized by the Legislature of 1867. 

From an intelligent estimate of these heavy aggre- 
gates and the causes of their accumulation it will be 
easy to understand how rapidly a public debt may 
stride into very large proportions. The following tab- 
ulated statement exhibits these financial results in a 
clear and comprehensive form : — 

Funded debt, Jan. 1, 1866, . .$19,056,435 56 
Unfunded debt, Jan. 1, 1866, . . 4,177,196 19 



Total, $23,233,631 75 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 7 

Funded debt, Jan. 1, 1869, . . $26,807,420 00 
Unfunded debt, Jan. 1, 1869, . . 928,450 05 



Total, 127,735,870 05 

Increase of funded debt, . . . $7,750,984 44 
Decrease of unfunded debt, . . 3,248,746 14 



Showing a net increase of the aggre- 
gate debt, during the three years, of $4,502,238 30 

From this comparative statement of the funded lia- 
bihties of the Commonwealth, is deducted that portion 
which has been liquidated on maturity during years 
named, amounting to $2,859,900, and there remains 
the net increase as above stated, which has accumu- 
lated from the following issues of scrip : — 

For the Bounty Fund Loan, . . $1,951,244 00 
For Massachusetts War Loan, . . 3,505,000 00 
Troy and Greenfield Railroad and 

Hoosac Tunnel Loan, . . . 2,952,400 00 
Western Eailroad Loan, . . . 1,510,080 00 
Hartford and Erie Railroad Loan, . 290,400 00 



8 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

Redemption of the Funded Debt. 

It sliould be borne in mind that, while the forego- 
ing statement indicates a large increase of the public 
debt, the available assets applicable to its redemption 
have proportionably accumulated ; so that, in a strictly 
financial view, the pecuniary condition of the Com- 
monwealth has rarely, if ever, exhibited a more grati- 
fying and creditable aspect. 

In substantial conformity with recommendations 
communicated in my last annual message, for the 
retirement or payment of existing unfunded loans 
and liabilities, and the establishment of additional 
sinking funds from resources already available and 
at our disposal, for the redemption of the funded 
loans without resort to further taxation for that 
purpose, the Legislature of 1868 made ample pro- 
vision for the payment of nearly six millions of 
liabilities, includmg the Coast Defence Loan and 
the new Loan in aid of the Troy and Greenfield 
Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel. 

As the result of that legislation, almost three mil- 
lions of dollars previously advanced from temporary 
loans and from the ordinary revenue, in anticipation 
of the sale of scrip, have been restored to the common 
uses of the treasury ; while the payment at maturity 
of all but $352,000 of the entire funded loan is now 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 9 

fully secured by well-endowed sinking funds, which, 
with their legitimate accumulations, will be ample 
for that purpose, without the unwelcome contingency 
of taxation. For the payment of the small amount 
thus unprovided for by specific legislation, most of it 
maturing in 1870-72, the surplusage of funds already 
established will be much more than sufficient. 

The Massachusetts Funds and their Securities. 

In connection with the subject of finance, every 
tax-payer will be especially gratified to know that the 
securities in which the funds are invested, a very 
large proportion of them being Massachusetts bonds, 
possess a market value nearly one-sixth more than 
their cost. The assets belonging to the seventeen 
Sinking and Trust Funds of the Slate amount to 
more than twelve millions of dollars, and the aggre- 
gate market value of their securities exceeds the 
amount of original investments by nearly one million 
eight hundred thousand dollars. 

The several Sinking Funds applicable to the redemp- 
tion of the Funded Debt already amount in the aggre- 
gate to nine and a half millions of dollars — consid- 
erably more than one-thkd of the entire debt. When 
it is considered that the maturing of this debt is 
graded over intervals extending onward for more than 

2 



10 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

thirty years, it will be at once seen that these funds, 
with their natural accumulations, cannot fail to 
become in the aggregate largely in excess of the 
amount actually required for liquidation. Besides, 
the securities in which they are invested have at the 
present time a market value of more tlian one and a 
quarter millmis of dollars above the origiiial invest- 
ment or cost. 

Assuredly, in view of this largely enhanced value 
of its bonds, unusual if not unprecedented in the 
history of States, every citizen of Massachusetts may 
cherish pride in its financial credit at home and 
abroad. Our bonds, of which the payment of both 
principal and interest in gold is sacredly guarantied 
and unerringly fulfilled, command everywhere a con- 
fidence not surpassed in the commerce of the globe. 

STATE LOAN TO BOSTON, HARTFORD AND ERIE RAILROAD 

COMPANY. 

By chapter 284 of the acts of the year 1867, a 
State loan of three millions of dollars was made to 
the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad Company, to 
enable it to complete its road to the Hudson River. 
The absolute granting or delivery of this subsidy was 
by the act made contingent upon the fulfilment of 
certain conditions which should be made to appear 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 11 

to the satisfaction of tlie Governor and Council, of 
the Attorney-General, and of certain commissioners 
to be appointed under the sixth section. I deemed 
it fortunate for the State, that upon this commission 
I was enabled to procure the services of Messrs. 
George T. Bigelow, Emory Washburn and Samuel 
Ashburner. 

The Commissioners, after long and thorough inves- 
tigation, made an extended report upon the whole 
subject, and in conclusion expressed the opinion that, 
if the means and resources of the company should 
be honestly and judiciously used, and with a reason- 
able degree of energy, enterprise and economy, the 
road might be thereby constructed and moderately 
equipped, and they accordingly recommended the 
allowance by the Governor and Council of a loan 
of scrip for the work already done and equipment 
purchased. A copy of this report is herewith com- 
municated. This document was transmitted to the 
Attorney-General, with the request that he would 
report upon the various matters in which his con- 
current action was required. A copy of his reply is 
also transmitted. 

It was quite obvious to my mind that it was the 
design of the Legislature to secure the separate and 
responsible judgment of the Governor and Council 



12 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

upon each of the particulars named in the act as 
necessary to be shown. It also became early appar- 
ent that the principal questions concerning which 
doubts would exist, were, whether the requirements 
of the statute concerning the payment and cancella- 
tion of the mortgage debts secured by the under- 
lying mortgages on that part of the road this side 
of Southbridge and Willimantic had been complied 
with, and whether the company had satisfactorily 
shown that they would be able, without further aid 
from this Commonwealth, to complete their line from 
Boston to Fishkill before May 27, 1872. 

Deeply impressed with the responsibility imposed 
upon me in respect to these questions, I gave my 
careful and personal attention to the examination of 
the details which could throw light upon them. 

A considerable discrepancy was found to exist in 
the various statements of the outstanding bonds which 
are secured by the underlying mortgages. This dis- 
crepancy was largely relieved by subsequent explana- 
tions ; and a bond with personal sureties was required, 
in the penal sum of one million of dollars, to protect 
the franchise and property described in the Berdell 
mortgage from the uncancelled bonds, thus dispensing 
with the necessity of a precise ascertainment of the 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 13 

number of bonds outstanding, whicb indeed seemed 
impracticable. 

The Committee of the Council, to whom I referred 
the question, became satisfied that the company will 
be able to complete their line of road to Fishkill 
within the time specified by the act, without further 
aid from this Commonwealth, as appears by their 
report, a copy of which is herewith submitted. 
Wishing, however, rigidly to test the conclusion to 
which the Committee of the Council had come upon 
this latter subject, I addressed to the Commissioners a 
supplementary communication, which expressed the 
doubts that still remained in my mind, and the want 
of full information, which, as it seemed to me, still 
existed, upon certain facts bearing upon the question ; 
and a copy of this communication, and of the reply 
of the Commissioners, is also herewith sent to the 
Legislature. 

By this reply, the validity of the acceptances of the 
Erie Railroad did not appear to be established, and I 
was not able quite to concur with the opinion of the 
Commissioners that it would seem a fair estimate to 
offset the accruing interest money, which the company 
would apparently be obliged to pay, against the earn- 
ings of the road. Up to this time it had been assumed 
that the full period allowed by the act for the comple- 



14 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

tion of the road to Fislikill might be occupied in doing 
the work. It was obvious that an amount of about 
f 3,000,000 would become due for interest before the 
end of that period. By the last exhibit of the Com- 
missioners, the sums to be paid by the company 
exceeded their pecuniary resources, now within their 
control. There were also certain other matters of 
detail concerning which I desired further information. 
I therefore presented certain inquiries to the officers 
of the company, a copy of which, and of their replies 
thereto, and of an accompanying opinion of Mr. 
William M. Evarts is transmitted to you. 

By these replies, it appeared that it is the purpose 
of the company nearly or quite to complete their line 
of road to Fishkill during the present year ; and, upon 
personal conference with Mr. Ashburner, one of the 
Commissioners, himself a civil engineer of large expe- 
rience in this kind of work, I became satisfied that 
this may be done. This early completion of the road 
will greatly diminish the amount of interest to be 
paid. 

This opinion of Mr. Evarts was submitted to the 
Attorney-General, and he deemed it satisfactory to es- 
tablish the liability of the Erie Railroad Company for 
the bonds which they have received. But it should 
now be stated that the acceptances of the Erie Com- 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 15 

' pany have since been anticipated by the cash payment 
of the whole amount. 

Upon the whole case, as thus presented, the ques- 
tion then remained, what rule should be adopted as a 
guide by which to determine whether the company 
will be able to complete their line of road to Fishkill 
without further aid from the Commonwealth 1 Were 
they to be required to demonstrate mathematically an 
actual present ability, from means now within their 
control, to meet the necessary disbursements? Or, 
would they meet the requirement of the statute by 
making it appear to the satisfaction of the reason and 
conscience that in all human probability they will be 
able to accomplish the work 1 Accepting the latter 
as the true rule, bearing in mind the valuation which 
the public have now for a long time put upon the 
shares of the company, and believing that this indi- 
cates the existence of a borrowing capacity on the part 
of the company yet remaining, which is equal to the 
difference between the required disbursements and 
their present actual means, I felt constrained to grant 
the first instalments of the loan in accordance with 
the certificate of the Commissioners. Five hundred 
thousand dollars expressed in sterling bonds have 
accordingly been already delivered. 

My individual judgment is adverse to the practice 



16 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

which has sprung up of late years in the Legislature 
of granting large sums of money conditioned upon the 
discretionary action of the Governor and Council. It 
may well be doubted whether in some instances of this 
kind the Executive Department has not been charged 
with a trust of finance which belongs peculiarly to the 
Legislature. However that may be, acting under a 
responsibility to execute the law, and after an amount 
of time, care and thought bestowed upon this case 
which is by no means represented in the brief terms 
of the present statement, I have seen my way and duty 
to consummate this loan. I think it proper that the 
papers relating to the question should be made known 
to the Legislature ; and I have confidence that the 
progress and completion of the road, and its future 
working operations, will sustain the result I have 
reached, and confirm my opinion of its importance in 
the commercial interests of the Commonwealth. 



DISEASE IN CATTLE. 



During the past season a considerable degree of 
interest, at times amounting almost to general con- 
cern, has been awakened by the appearance of a mal- 
ady among the cattle. Its most marked development 
has been in Texas or Cherokee beeves; but these, 
when transported to the North and East in the spring 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 17 

and summer months, have endangered the kind in all 
the States exposed by their transit and stay. Acting 
in co-operation with the Executive heads of many of 
the States, and in compliance with the request of 
some of our own citizens most intelligent in the sub- 
ject, I appointed Commissioners to have charge of the 
field of inquiry, and to see to the enforcement of the 
laws provided for such cases. So inadequate as to 
the compensation of the Commissioners are the pro- 
visions of chapter twenty-eight of the acts of 1862, 
under which alone such appointment could be made, 
that I found it impracticable to obtain the services of 
any person upon the commission whose scientific or 
professional studies peculiarly fitted him for this par- 
ticular investigation. In a matter so profoundly 
interesting in its relations to political and domestic 
economy, afi'ecting directly the property and health of 
the people, the limitations of the statute in effect 
deprived the State of the ofl^cial service of a reputa- 
ble physician or veterinary surgeon. But the good 
will and patriotic spirit of two men of practical wis- 
dom enabled me to so far organize the commission as 
to keep watch at the frontier points of delivery of 
cattle to our railroads, and, generally, to protect our 
markets and herds. 

Late in the autumn I further appointed Dr. E. F. 



18 YALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

Thayer, a veterinary surgeon of approved repute, to 
represent this Commonwealth in a convention of Com- 
missioners from several States, held in Springfield, 
Illinois, for the consideration of the whole subject. 
Twelve States were represented in this assembly, 
whose deliberations resulted in the approval of a 
series of measures to be recommended to the Legisla- 
tures of the States. These will be found contained 
in the report of the Commissioner, which is now 
transmitted to the General Court. 

CAPE COD HARBOR. 

In my last annual message I expressed my readiness 
to approve the plan of the Commissioners for the pro- 
tection and preservation of the harbor at Province- 
town so soon as the Legislature should enlarge the 
appropriation sufficiently to meet the estimate of cost. 
A further appropriation of fifty thousand dollars was 
made ; and I have now the pleasure to communicate 
to the General Court the complete success of the 
undertaking. 

The protection and preservation of Cape Cod Har- 
bor, so important to the State and nation, has been a 
subject of interest for many years. The United 
States Engineers have given it their attention from 
time to time since the first military survey by Col. 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 19 

J. D. Graham in 1833-4-5, and various works 
have been undertaken there, mostly, however, of 
small proportions. Col. Graham called the attention 
of the Government to the importance of closing up 
East Harbor Inlet, and pointed out the danger of the 
ocean breaking through the low and narrow gaps in 
the outside beach at the " head of the meadows." 
Various Boards of United States Engineers and State 
Commissioners have examined and reported these 
sources of danger, and plans have been proposed for 
closing the Inlet of East Harbor ; one for a strong 
stone dike of double walls filled in with sand, and 
one for a dike of loaded crib work. 

Circumstances, however, seem to have prevented 
action in regard to any of these proposed improve- 
ments, until, in the opinion of those most familiar 
with it, the condition of the Harbor became so critical 
that a Special Board of State Commissioners was 
appointed, with an eminent hydraulic engineer, Mr. 
James B. Francis, as its chairman, for the purpose of 
devising practical means for the " protection and 
preservation " of the Harbor. 

As a basis for study and action, this Board called 
upon Prof Benjamin Peirce, Superintendent of the 
United States Coast Survey, for a thorough survey 
of the ground in question, in order to show, by com- 



20 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

parison with the survey of Col. Graham, the character 
and extent of the changes which thirty-two years had 
effected. This survey was executed by Assistant 
H. L. Whiting of the Coast Survey, and showed 
conclusively that changes injurious to the Harbor had 
occurred and were progressing. To prevent these 
injuries it became necessary to close the Inlet of 
East Harbor. 

It should be noted that this Inlet was a powerful 
tidal water-way more than a thousand feet in width, 
through which the column of the tide of Massachu- 
setts Bay, ranging from nine to sixteen feet in height, 
rushed in and out, filling and emptying " East Har- 
bor " — a lagoon containing an area of one thousand 
acres at high tides. The material of the sides and 
bottom of this Inlet was coarse, loose sand, affording 
no foundation for any solid structure. Closing this 
Inlet and stopping a water-way far more powerful 
than that of either the Connecticut or Merrimack 
Elvers, at Springfield or Lowell, was a problem of 
great uncertainty, and the case a novel one in the 
history of our coast or harbor improvement or river 
damming. 

The plan of the structure prepared by Mr. Francis 
was the result of careful examination and profound 
study, and involved an estimated expenditure of 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 21 

$149,134.80. The act making this appropriation 
was passed by the Legislature on the 19th of May, 
and the plans of the Commissioners were at once 
approved by the Governor and Council. As no con- 
tracts or other definite arrangements could be made 
until after the act of appropriation, a short working ' 
season was left for the Commissioners to collect 
material and concentrate forces at East Harbor. Ac- 
tive operations were commenced there on the 26th of 
June, and on the 4th of November the Inlet was 
successfully and permanently closed. 

The work which has produced this important result 
is a timber dam of great strength and perfection. A 
foundation for this structure had to be created. This 
was done by double rows of sheet piling, driven from 
twelve to fourteen feet into the sand, then cut off just 
above the bottom surface of the channel and heavily 
planked over, to prevent the water, in its pressure, 
from bursting through the treacherous material be- 
neath the structure and undermining it. Guard 
winsrs were also built on either side of the Inlet, with 
sheet-piling driven equally deep and carried far up 
into the sandy shores above high water. 

So complete have been all parts of this structure 
that not an accident or an interruption has occurred 
during its progress, nor a single fault, which, if al- 



22 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

lowed, might have involved the failure of the whole 
work. When all was ready, on November 'Ith, the 
main superstructure of the timber dam was shut down 
— like an immense water-gate — during the period of 
one tide. All that now remains to be done is to fill in 
sand, in accordance with the original plan, covering 
the whole wooden structure and forming a dike as 
solid and permanent as the shore and beach on either 
side of it. About one thousand cubic yards of sand 
are now filling in per day, at which rate the embank- 
ment will be completed in a few months. 

The character and proportions of this work may 
be better understood by stating that it contains about 
one million feet of lumber ; that three thousand piles 
have been driven in the sand, most of them to an 
unusual depth in such material. Twenty tons of 
iron have been used, and six thousand tons of 
stone, — the latter as a guard to prevent the tear- 
ing action of the water through the sand. A large 
number of sand bags have also been used for the 
same purpose, and many more held in reserve. This 
structure, which has closed East Harbor Inlet,- is 
altogether worthy of the reputation of Mr. Francis, 
the engineer who planned it. Although somewhat 
remote from his accustomed field of labor, every 
condition of success, as well as every danger, was 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 23 

anticipated. The estimates were made with such 
precision as almost exactly to coincide with the 
actual outlay. 

Before any work was undertaken at East Harbor, 
Mr. Francis resigned his connection with the Com- 
mission, and Mr. Paul Hill was appointed in his 
place. Great credit is due to the untiring zeal and 
energy of this gentleman, under whose immediate 
direction the work has been principally conducted. 
By his rapid execution, and rare ability to meet every 
emergency, he has prevented any waste of the money 
of the State. The other members of the Board, 
General R. A. Pierce, and Mr. James GifFord, have 
shared in this spirit and action, and the labors of 
this Commission have not only been prosecuted with 
great energy and complete success, but with an econ- 
omy quite unusual in works undertaken by the State. 
And we may expect here the unusual gratification 
of an important work costing less than its appropri- 
ation by a margin of between twenty-five and thirty 
thousand dollars — over sixteen per cent. 

Important work has been done by the General 
Government during the last six months, under the 
able supervision of General J. G. Foster, of the U. S. 
Engineers, in addition to works previously constructed 
for the preservation of the Harbor. 



24 YALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

At Beach Point, an extensive bulkhead of brush 
has been constructed, extending from the termina- 
tion of the old wooden bulkhead to the extremity of 
the bridge across East Harbor Inlet — a distance of 
one thousand feet — having along its whole length 
jetties fifty feet apart and fifty feet in length. The 
construction of the bulkhead and jetties, being of 
brush interlaced around and between rows of pickets 
driven firmly into the sand and weighted with layers 
of stone interspersed throughout the mass of brush, 
has made the most admirable and efi"ective beach 
protection that has ever been prdvided for these 
wasting shores. Its adaptation to the case in ques- 
tion is already manifest by the accumulation of sand 
upon the shore of Beach Point. General Foster 
intends to extend this bulkhead to the southward 
over the site of the former wooden structure, and 
also, if necessary, to extend it northward, and unite 
it with the Commissioners' Dike. 

As there appeared well-grounded apprehension 
that the encroachment of the ocean upon the outer 
beach opposite the head of the meadows would 
result in the sea breaking through the narrow ridge 
of sand in some great storm, it was decided by Gen- 
eral Foster to construct a substantial dike across 
the meadow at the " wading place " — opposite High 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 25 

Head — so that even if a break should occur in the 
outer beach, the sea would come no farther towards 
the harbor. 

Upon Long Point, near the light-house, about one 
thousand tons of stone have been uniformly distrib- 
uted along the beach, and, with the stone previously 
placed there, serve as an efficient protection against 
the abrasion of the waves and currents upon the 
shore. 

An excellent understanding exists between the 
U. S. Engineer in charge — General Foster — and the 
Engineers and Commissioners of the State, leading 
to a cordial co-operation in all plans and works cal- 
culated to improve and protect this important Harbor. 
And I desire to express a public obligation to Profes- 
sor Peirce, to his Assistant, Mr. Henry L. Whiting, 
and to General Foster, for the prompt and efficient 
assistance which they have constantly rendered. 

I have thought it advisable to explain this work 
somewhat in detail on account of its intrinsic impor- 
tance, and especially in order that full information 
as to the subject may be at hand in an official form 
whenever the State shall call upon the federal gov- 
ernment for re-imbursement, as contemplated in the 
original act of appropriation passed in 1867. 



26 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

MASSACHUSETTS WAR CLAIM. 

I have the honor to lay before you two communi- 
cations, dated respectively November 25th and De- 
cember 11th, from the State Agent at Washington, 
Lieut. Col. Gardiner Tufts, setting forth succinctly 
what has been accomplished since the close of the 
war in settling our military claims against the United 
States. Until the beginning of the year 1867 the 
preparation and presentation of our accounts for these 
claims was under charge of the Auditor of the Com- 
monwealth. In February of that year I withdrew 
this business from that office, and have caused it to 
be conducted since under my own supervision. Dur- 
ing the administration of my predecessor five different 
accounts, for the aggregate sum of |3,501, 766.50, 
had been presented against the United States. Of 
this sum, when I came to the executive office, there 
were suspended or disallowed items to the amount of 
$946,006.76, and none of these suspensions or dis- 
allowances had been revoked. My first measure was 
to commit the accounts, with all the papers apper- 
taining to them, to Colonel A. G. Browne, Jr., the 
military secretary of my predecessor, to examine them 
critically, and report what in his opinion could be 
accompUshed towards removing the objections raised 
by the United States, and the best mode for doing so ; 



1«69.] SENATE- No. 1. 2T 

with instructions to consult with me personally from 
time to time in the progress of his investigation. This 
task occupied Colonel Browne for several months, and 
in August, 1867, he made a report advising that all 
but a comparatively inconsiderable portion of the 
items suspended or disallowed could be reinforced by 
such additional proofs and explanations, as, under the 
amended rules of the accounting officers of the United 
States, would procure the withdrawal of the objec- 
tions. And he recommended that the business of 
preparing these proofs and explanations, (many of 
which, from his acquaintance with our military ad- 
ministration during the war, he was himself able to 
suggest,) should be intrusted to some special officer 
who should be able to superintend it here and also to 
present them personally at Washington. This rec- 
ommendation concurring with my own judgment, I 
selected and detailed for that duty, Lieut. Col. Tufts, 
whose reports above referred to show the gratifying 
result that out of the amount of $946,006.76 disal- 
lowed or suspended on those five accounts, $932,113.77 
(or more than 981 per cent.,) have been allowed and 
collected during the year 1868 ; and also that, on a 
sixth account for $33,498.29, prepared and presented 
during the year, $31,502.79 have been allowed by the 
third auditor. The success which these figures indi- 



28 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

cate is the best evidence of the intelligence, discretion 
and fidelity with which the work has been executed. 
And I may add with propriety that it confirms in 
a most satisfactory manner not only the fact that our 
military expenditures in behalf of the United States 
during the war were made with scrupulous integrity 
and, excellent judgment, but also the fact that our 
accounts were kept with corresponding skill and ac- 
curacy. The entire expense to the Commonwealth 
of these protracted and voluminous proceedings has 
been only about one-half of one per cent, of the amount 
recovered. In this service, distinguished not more 
by the result than by the industry and fidelity which 
accomplished it, the labors of Col. Browne, Lieut. 
Col. Tufts and Mr. Julius L. Clarke have been con- 
spicuous. 

BOUNTIES PAST AND FUTURE. 

Under my order, the Bureau of the Paymaster was 
closed in February last. From the passage of the 
bounty laws to January 1st, 1869, the whole amount 
of payments made may be stated as follows : — 

Advance— Army, . . . |9,595,150 00 

Navy, . . . 83,098 70 

Monthly, 3,073,217 04. 

112,751,465 74 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 29 

There is a considerable amount of unpaid bounties 
and claims which should for the most part be treated 
as doubtful or fraudulent, and classified as follows : — ■ 
1st. Bounties apparently due — the soldier's record 
being clear, but no application for the amount having 
been made by him or by his heirs. The amount of this 
class is small. 2d. Doubtful claims — in which cases 
the evidence of enlistment or service is incomplete, 
and, if the missing evidence be supplied, the bounty 
would become due. 3d. Improper and fraudulent 
claims. This class would include men Avho enlisted, 
and, being incapable of performing service, were dis- 
charged without United States pay, but who claim the 
State bounty ; and bounties of deserters, claimed by 
agents holding orders from the soldiers, and Avho 
advanced, or profess to have advanced the bounty 
before desertion. 

It is estimated that these amount altogether to a 
total of about |3 70,000. 

Although the amount of bounties really due, or 
which will become due in the future by the required 
evidence being supplied, will not probably exceed 
125,000 or 130,000, the State might be made liable 
for a large part of the foregoing estimate by relaxing 
its watchfulness, or by unwise legislation opening the 



30 YALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

door for the payment of any of these improper or 
fraudulent claims. 

To guard the Treasury against such exposure, at 
the close of the past year I issued an order directing 
that bounty claims shall first be submitted to a com- 
mission appointed by the Governor for investigation, 
and that, if found to be justly due, they shall, upon 
the approval of a majority of the Commissioners, be 
allowed and paid upon new rolls vouched and ap- 
proved according to the orders heretofore issued by 
the Executive. I beg leave to remind the General 
Court that so well preserved, classified and understood 
are the records of this department, that rarely can a 
just claim come to the Legislature on appeal from 
rejection by the Executive. The danger of inconsid- 
erate liberality towards this class of cases will increase 
as time shall elapse. 

I transmit a communication from that excellent 
officer, the late Paymaster, Mr. William H. Porter, 
relative to the condition of the records of his depart- 
ment. The names of all the soldiers appearing upon 
pay-rolls are now registered, forty-two thousand in 
number, so arranged that for the purpose of reference 
the index is now complete. When the work shall be 
finished, the books will be indispensable, not only for 
reference to the original vouchers, but as ledgers giv- 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 31 

ing the bounty account of each soldier. Completed, 
they will exhibit a system as nearly perfect as that of 
any government ; and, for the amount of bounties paid 
and for the manner of their payment to the soldiers 
of Massachusetts, they cannot fail to warrant the 
patriotic pride of every citizen. 

THE INLAND FISHERIES. 

There is one feature of the official transactions of 
the last three years which relates to the development 
of a branch of industry allied to agriculture, of special 
value in point of view both of science and practical 
use. I refer to the labors of the Commissioners who 
have had in charge the re-establishment and protec- 
tion of inland fisheries. Although the deep-sea 
fisheries have always been regarded as a productive 
source of wealth and power, encouraged by bounties 
and protected by treaties, yet, until within a very 
recent period, the profit and advantage of stocking 
our own streams had never been realized or even 
estimated. In 1856 Commissioners were appointed 
by the Legislature to investigate the subject of arti- 
ficially propagating fish ; but their labors ended in a 
few experiments and a report. Nearly ten years 
passed before attention was again attracted to the 
subject by the complaints of New Hampshire and 



32 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

Vermont of the damage we had done to their fisheries 
by artificial dams on the Merrimack and the Connecti- 
cut. In our efi"orts to encourage manufactures, we 
had thoughtlessly barricaded those great rivers against 
the ascent offish. The propriety and justice of these 
complaints was recognized at once ; and, in April 
1865, the appointment of commissioners, Mr. Theo- 
dore Lyman and Mr. A. A. Eeed, was authorized to 
investigate them, whose report, rendered in December 
1865, created an interest in the subjects which it 
treated as universal as had been the previous igno- 
rance or indifference. It set forth clearly the quantity 
of fish formerly taken in those rivers, the diminution 
of it through obstructions and pollutions of the water, 
the method of constructing fishways, and the natural 
history of the salmon, the shad and other valuable 
fishes, which once abounded in our streams ; and 
explained how the work of re-stocking must be of 
gradual progress, from which few results popularly 
appreciable could be counted on in less than five 
years. 

In May 1866, the appointment of the present 
board of commissioners (Mr. Lyman and Mr. A. R. 
Field,) was authorized by the General Court, and a 
small appropriation made for river improvements, to 
be expended under their direction. Before the begin 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 33 

ning of the next year, through the cordial co-operation 
of the mill-owners of Lawrence and Lowell, the 
Merrimack was opened by fishways ; and (what was 
more important,) general attention was drawn to, and 
public interest excited in, the methods for re-stocking 
not only that river, but all our streams and ponds. 
By the laws of 1867, the general powers of the 
Commissioners were enlarged, authority was given 
to them to cause fishways to be built over all dams, 
and to re-stock ponds as well as rivers, and the 
fishing for shad or salmon in the Merrimack was 
prohibited for five years. During the remainder of 
that year they gave special attention to the artificial 
propagation of fish, and the report which they 
rendered a year ago stimulated in a most gratifying 
manner the interest of the community in that branch 
of the general subject. On the Connecticut the breed- 
hig of shad, by the processes described, was under- 
taken on a large scale. On the Merrimack large 
numbers of shad were taken into the waters above 
the dams, and left to breed there naturally. But, in 
regard to the building of fishways during the year, 
the mill-owners of Holyoke, on the Connecticut, 
being called upon to follow the example of those of 
Lowell and Lawrence on the Merrimack, showed 
themselves not moved by the same public spirit, and 



84 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

even threw obstructions in the way of the Commis- 
sioners, to which I asked the attention of the Legis- 
lature of 1868, who voted an appropriation to make 
a fishway over the dam at Hadley's Falls, in case 
the water-power company should not be liable to 
build it. The Commissioners' report for 1868, which 
I have the honor herewith to lay before you, sets 
forth fully their present relations with that company. 
The fishway has not been built, for reasons which 
are there stated, and to which I ask your especial 
attention, since we owe to New Hampshire and 
Vermont an explanation of the causes of delay. 

I beg, also, your consideration of all the lesser 
points on which the Commissioners suggest the 
expediency of legislation, among which they men- 
tion the need of protecting the white perch in the 
same manner as the smelt, and of amending all 
statutes which now protect pickerel, so as on the 
contrary to hold out inducements to destroy them; 
and particularly the need of co-operative legislation 
with Connecticut to check the indiscriminate slaughter 
of young shad by the pound-fisheries. That State 
has already passed a statute on the subject, limited 
to take effect on the passage of a similar act by 
Massachusetts. And to the further recommendations 
of the Commissioners for a general levisal of all our 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 35 

statutes on the subject of inland fisheries, for the 
withdrawal, so far as the Legislature may have power 
to do so, of the public privilege of free fishing in 
the rivers and great ponds, and for the enactment 
of laws giving to the raisers of fish some measure 
of the security of their rights of property which 
Ave afi'ord to the raisers of other live stock, I beg 
your earnest and favorable attention. The need of 
all this is so fully and simply expressed by the 
Commissioners themselves, that I have only occasion 
to add that I am personally convinced of the wisdom, 
policy and expediency of all the measures which 
they urge, as demanded for the advancement of a 
branch of industry which promises a great and certain 
increase of domestic comfort, private wealth and 
public revenue. 

I cannot leave this topic without adding what will 
meet from no one with more cordial concurrence than 
from his fellow commissioners, that what lias been 
accomplished in this new and important field is due 
chiefly to Mr. Lyman, who, working with a rare 
combination of enthusiasm and persistency, has already 
gained results which are no less gratifying to the 
political economist than to the natural philosopher,.. 



36 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

THE DEPARTMENT OF CHARITIES. 

The work of the Department of the Charities, Ke- 
forms and Corrections, in the extent and variety of its 
details, exceeds that of any other Bureau of the State 
government. Official duty and personal interest have 
combined to lead me to a close examination of the sys- 
tem which controls them, both as originally adopted and 
as modified by successive Legislatures, and to a contin- 
uous observation of its workings. As the result, I 
have assured myself that this system was well adapted 
to the needs of the Commonwealth at the time of its 
establishment, and that the alterations necessitated by 
exigencies then unforeseen have been devised in a 
spirit of judicious liberality. I find, of course, defects, 
some of which are inherent and inevitable in any sys- 
tem, and cannot be entirely obviated by excellence of 
administration ; and others which doubtless are but 
temporary, and for which future legislators will un- 
questionably provide, whenever they are persuaded 
that the remedies suggested are sound and feasible. 
It is too much to expect that any code of law, or any 
organization under the law, designed to remedy hu- 
man imperfections, will itself be perfect. But when 
faith in humanity is combined, in its advisory and ex- 
ecutive officers, with intelligence and high culture, 
with a matured judgment, strong will, and resolute 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 87 

fidelity of performance, we can confidently look for an 
abatement of some immediate evils, and for a future 
solution of many difficult problems in the treatment of 
the pauper, the lunatic, and the criminal. 

Such a supervision I am convinced that we enjoy, 
and that the State has been peculiarly fortunate in 
the wisdom of the Legislature of 1863, which, after 
thorough investigation and discussion, created the 
Board of State Charities. In the high character and 
ability of its successive chairmen, Otis Norcross and 
Dr. Samuel G. Howe, in the industry, energy and great 
ability of its secretary and general agent, whose retire- 
ment from office is a most serious loss to the Common- 
wealth and to humanity, and in the working capacity 
and the honesty of its subordinate officers, has been 
•found an example of that combination above alluded 
to, which has wrought remarkable results. Though 
subjected to harsh criticism and unreasonable opposi- 
tion, proceeding mainly from those unfamiliar with 
its specialty, or from interested parties aff'ected by its 
measures of reform ; and though hampered by delay 
in obtaining much-needed legislation, it has advanced 
quietly in its work till it has remodelled the whole 
arrangement of our charities. Retaining whatever 
experience had proved to be good under the former 
supervision, it has abated many existing evils, cut off" 



38 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

excrescences, introduced a successful classification, 
and, replacing jealousies between institutions with cor- 
diality and willingness of co-operation, has greatly 
promoted their internal discipline, as well as the econ- 
omy of their management. On referring to its record, 
I find among many other measures of utility the fol- 
lowing which I deem it fitting to mention. 

It has brought about the closing of the needless 
and expensive hospital at Rainsford Island, and inau- 
gurated a system of providing for the sick poor of the 
State in their respective localities, with partial or com- 
plete re-imbursement to the cities and towns from the 
Treasury of the Commonwealth, — a policy dictated 
alike by justice and humanity. 

It has effected an extension of the laws of settle- 
ment, thereby preventing hundreds of surviving sol- 
diers and of the widows and orphans of the dead from 
being driven to the State Almshouses, and so has 
probably rendered needless for years to come the 
creation of any more large public institutions. 

It has provided agents to visit the thousands of 
children apprenticed from our Almshouses and 
Reformatories, many of whom had formerly been 
grossly defrauded and abused without remedy or 
protection. It has carried through the establishment 
of the State Workhouse at Bridgewater for the 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 39 

restraint and employment of the vicious and vagrant 
poor, thereby nearly superseding the almshouse on 
the same premises. Under the able and judicious 
management of the superintendent, Mr. Goodspeed, 
this experiment is proving a complete success, not 
only in controlling but in preventing voluntary pau- 
perism, in preserving infant life, and compelling some 
pecuniary return to the Commonwealth for the bur- 
den thrown upon its Treasury by idleness and vice. 

It has put in operation the State Primary School 
at Monson, by which agency hundreds of children 
are relieved of the disabilities of pauperism, removed 
from the exceptional classes, and restored to society 
as profitable producers instead of dependent con- 
sumers. 

It has secured the establishment of the Lunatic 
Asylum on the premises of the State at Tewksbury, 
for the reception of the chronic insane, thus reliev- 
ing the Commonwealth from the erection and main- 
tenance of a new Lunatic Hospital, and providing 
remunerative employment for large numbers of the 
insane. 

It has collected and collated a vast amount of 
statistical information, undervalued perhaps by too 
many at home, but eagerly sought for and made the 
basis of legislative action by other communities. 



40 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

In the five years of its existence, its officers have 
examined more than 50,000 immigrants and 20,000 
paupers ; have removed from the State or otherwise 
provided for 10,000 paupers, including 550 lunatics, 
(or enough to fill two additional hospitals,) most of 
whom would have been permanently chargeable, and 
has paid into the Treasury more than $131,000. 

While effecting these wholesome reforms, the 
Board has done nothing to increase the number of 
public dependents, for the average in our institu- 
tions has decreased 13 per cent, within the five years 
of its existence ; neither has it made any undue draft 
upon the Treasury, for its collections have covered 
its expenses, leaving a large surplus ; while the total 
expenditure of the State for the past year, in the 
department of pauperism and lunacy, will not reach 
$300,000, and, reducing currency to gold, does not 
exceed the annual outlay of twelve years ago. 

In my annual message for 1867, I had the honor to 
recommend that provision be made within our own 
limits for the education of the deaf-mutes of the Com- 
monwealth. Regarding this suggestion with favor, the 
Legislature of that year incorporated the Clarke Institu- 
tion for Deaf-mutes, located at Northampton. Through 
the munificence of the patron and constant friend 
whose name it bears, and with but moderate assist- 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 41 

ance from the State, it was put in operation in Octo- 
ber of the same year, under the charge of an enthusi- 
astic and self-sacrificing lady, whom I mention for the 
sake of honor, — Miss Harriet B. Rogers. Several 
visits, induced at first by a sense of personal respon- 
sibility, have awakened my deepest interest in its wel- 
fare. The method of articulation, which is there used 
to the exclusion of all others, was not regarded by 
experts with unanimous favor, but its practical suc- 
cess surpasses what I had deemed to be possible. In 
fact one hardly knows which most to admire, the in- 
genuity and the philanthropic zeal of the teacher, or 
the wonderful progress and attainments of the pupils. 
Already from distant States is heard the voice of 
inquiry and approval ; and I trust that our own suc- 
cessive Legislatures will continue to cherish with the 
kindest care this latest of the benevolent institutions 
of Massachusetts, which is opening a new world to 
the fettered mind and is literally teaching the dumb 
to speak. 

I cannot close this statement of the official action 
of this Board, without adverting again to the high 
order of talent which has been so freely bestowed for 
the public service in one of its departments, and 
which should be generously remembered by the people 
of the Commonwealth. The Secretary, Mr. Frank B. 



42 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

Sanborn, at the call of my predecessor, brought to his 
arduous task great native ability, and the resources of 
a mind well stored with varied learning and controlled 
by the instincts and training of a scholar. To his 
industry and research we owe much invaluable statis- 
tical information, and facts and suggestions of the 
utmost importance touching the moral and economical 
management of our Prisons and Jails, which will 
doubtless form the basis of future legislation ; and it 
is to his extensive acquaintance and correspondence 
that w^e are largely indebted for that publicity of the 
proceedings of his Board in other States and foreign 
lands, which has so materially enhanced the reputa- 
tion and the influence of Massachusetts. My regret 
at his retirement will be shared by all who believe 
in judicious progress and who love humanity. 

Nor can I permit the retirement of the general 
agent of the Board, Dr. H. B. Wheelwright, to pass 
without an expression of obligation. It does not 
easily occur that for the period of eleven years a 
State receives from one of its officers the benefit of so 
great executive ability, coupled with so philosophic 
comprehension of the subjects of investigation. With 
uncommon quickness to detect the meritorious from 
the undeserving, the rightful claim from the fraudu- 
lent pretext, with a knowledge of classes and cases 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 43 

derived from assiduous inquiry and quickened by sa- 
gacious perception, he has long been a master of his 
department arid a conservator to the treasury. To 
him we are indebted for organizing at once the new 
system out of the old, and for demonstrating by pro- 
duced results that economy and humanity may be 
united in the performance of this most delicate and 
difficult duty of administration. The files of the Au- 
ditor and Treasurer are evidence that no accounting 
officer has been more punctilious. Ketiring from a 
broad field of labor in which he has, by untiring 
industry, kept the exceptional classes from vicious 
overgrowth, saving to the Commonwealth each year 
an amount which, under an administrator less faith- 
ful or intelligent, would have proved a heavy pecuni- 
ary burden, he has left on the records of the Board 
enduring proofs of his efficiency and integrity. 

THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES LOUIS AGASSIZ. 

I regret to have to communicate to you the resigna- 
tion by Mr. William Gray of the position of a trustee 
of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. The act 
incorporating the trustees, (chapter two hundred and 
eight of the acts of 1859,) provides that " the places 
of Louis Agassiz 'and William Gray, whenever the 
same or either of them shall become vacant, shall be 



44 YALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

filled by a concurrent vote of the Senate and House of 
Representatives." The rethement of Mr. Gray from 
a place in which for nine years he has rendered such 
eminent services to the cause of education marks a 
point in the history of this institution, at which it may 
be neither unprofitable nor uninteresting briefly to 
review what hav^e been its means and opportunities 
of usefulness, and what its improvement of them. 

Since a period so recent as to be within the remem- 
brance of all of us, the line of distinction between 
what were called the learned professions and the other 
avocations of society has been in great measure efi'aced ; 
or, perhaps I should rather say, various other avoca- 
tions have come to share with these professions a 
degree of responsibility for the common welfare such 
as was not formerly recognized. With the develop- 
ment of manufactures and mines, of commerce, of rail- 
roads and telegraphs, a higher capacity for command, 
a clearer discretion in its exercise and a more exten- 
sive education for its duties, have become necessary. 
The various establishments of instruction in the natu- 
ral sciences (of which the Museum of Comparative 
Zoology is the most conspicuous) owe their develop- 
ment to this cause ; and, in turn, they themselves 
foster and promote the very cause in which they had 
their origin. To conduct successfully almost any great 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 45 

manufacturing establishment to-day requires from 
young men the practical application of a degree of 
scientific knowledge which fifty years ago was pos- 
sessed only by a few and was acquired by them only 
as the result of long lives of study. And the same 
may be said concerning many other employments of 
our time. The Institute of Technology, at Boston, to 
. whose funds the State has largely contributed, the 
Lawrence Scientific School at Cambridge, and the 
Worcester School of Industrial Science, founded on a 
liberal scale by private munificence, are landmarks in 
the same line of progress. Although the first of these 
has been in operation less than three years, its influ- 
ence is already felt by the whole community. The 
last, though not yet fully developed, is rapidly ap- 
proaching a position of general importance, adding in 
its system of instruction a department for the practical 
application of the mechanic arts, — ^a purpose which it 
is interesting to note was contemplated by Congress in 
its grant of public lands which we have applied to 
endow the Agricultural College at Amherst. It would 
be pleasing in this connection to set forth details of 
the progress and condition of all these various institu- 
tions ; but that would lead me into a dissertation 
beyond my purpose in speaking of the Museum at 
Cambridge. 



46 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

When Professor Agassiz came to this country 
twenty-two years ago, he at once began to form a col- 
lection to illustrate the history of the animal kingdom, 
and on this expended all his private means and put 
himself under large pecuniary obligations beyond 
them. He accepted and held the office of a professor 
in the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard College, 
but the pecuniary aid which the college could afford . 
him was very little ; and the only store-house for all 
his collections, including those gathered from his expe- 
ditions to Florida and to the great northern lakes, was 
a small and ill-built wooden structure, part of which 
he was obliged to devote to rooms for his students, 
artists and assistants. This in 1856 was the condition 
of the nucleus of the present Museum. 

But in that year the magnificent private subscrip- 
tion of twenty-five hundred names for the publication 
of his work on Natural History was made; and in 
1857 the first volume was issued. The Museum was 
greatly increased by the specimens needed to illustrate 
this work ; and at last public attention was attracted 
to its importance, and a private subscription which 
yielded over $72,000 was made in aid of it, the Legis- 
lature at the same time voting an appropriation of 
$100,000 to be paid from sales of the Back Bay Lands. 
This appropriation was in singular conformity with 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 47 

that provision of the constitution (part 2, chapter 5, 
section 2,) which made it " the duty of legislatures 
and magistrates " " to cherish the interests of literature 
and the sciences and all seminaries of them," and " to 
encourage private societies and public institutions " 
" for the promotion," among other things enumerated, 
" of a Natural Histoiy of the country." On the death 
of Mr. Francis C. Gray, which occurred about this 
time, the Museum received the munificent legacy of 
$50,000, and in accordance with his request took its 
present name of the Museum of Comparative Zoology ; 
and the act of incorporation was passed, from which I 
have already quoted. In 1861, the Legislature voted 
an additional appropriation of $20,000 ; in 1863, the 
sum of $10,000 was voted for the publication of illus- 
trated catalogues ; in 1867, $10,000 for the arrange- 
ment of the great Brazilian collections ; and in 1868 
a further appropriation of $75,000, to be paid in three 
annual instalments of $25,000 each, conditional upon 
the raising of the same annual amount by private sub- 
scription. I had the pleasure of signing the warrant 
for the payment of the first instalment on the last day 
of the year which has just expired. 

Excluding from consideration this last grant, the 
whole sum which the State has contributed to the 
Museum during the last ten years is $140,000 ; and 



48 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

during the same time it has derived from legacies and 
private gifts about $175,000 ; to all which must be 
added, what is hardly capable of being definitely com- 
puted, the sum spent meanwhile by Professor Agassiz 
from his own earnings and the tuition fees of his stu- 
dents, (which last, however, he has almost always re- 
mitted to them.) The investment of this total sum of 
about $315,000 has been substantially as follows: in 
a permanent fund, $150,000; in the building, $75,000 ; 
in the scientific expedition to the Amazon, more than 
$30,000, the whole of which was given for that special 
purpose by one individual, Mr. Nathaniel Thayer, of 
widely known liberality and public spirit ; for the 
purchase of collections, of glass, alcohol and other 
material, upwards of $60,000. During the same time 
there have been received as income of invested funds 
upwards of $70,000, which have been expended in 
increasing and arranging the collections. 

If, now, in behalf of the State and the community 
we should undertake to strike a balance sheet, as a 
merchant would do in his business, and compute what 
has been gained to the public from this pecuniary 
investment, some of our gains might be enumerated 
as follows. 

First. It has secured in Massachusetts larger and 
more complete collections in several grand depart- 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 49 

ments of natural history than the British Museum or 
the Jardin des Plantes have acquired from a century 
of liberal government patronage. 

Second. In the arrangement of these collections, 
eve'ii to the limited extent to which the pecuniary 
resources of the Museum have enabled it to be car- 
ried, it has presented to the scientific world a plan of 
classification and exhibition more* admirable than was 
ever before attempted or even designed, its grand out- 
line being to illustrate the plan of creation so far as 
it lies within the comprehension of the human mind. 

Third. It has educated gratuitously a large part 
of the younger class of naturalists in this country, who 
now in turn are teaching in the schools and colleges 
of almost every State, and some of whom have already 
attained a reputation not limited to America ; and in 
educating them it has afforded greater facilities for the 
comprehension of their special subjects of study than 
they could have obtained anywhere else in the world. 

Fourth. It has supplied free of charge to every 
trustworthy scientific man in America or Europe, who 
chose to apply, all the specimens in its possession for 
his free investigation, — a purpose never before carried 
out on such a scale by any Museum. 

Fifth. It has given courses of lectures every year, 
free of charge, on the higher branches of Natural His- 



50 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

tory, to all teachers of either private or public schools 
who should choose to attend them. 

Siccth. It has published a series of valuable scien- 
tific works and supplied material for many more. 

And lastly, it has secured to the United States one 
who without contest is conceded to be not second to 
any philosophic zoologist now living ; who during 
his residence of twenty years with us has given to 
scientific pursuits in this country a new and previ- 
ously unknown impulse ; has made the scientific at- 
tainments and achievements of Americans known and 
respected abroad ; and has concentrated in Massachu- 
setts unequalled facilities and incitements for this 
class of studies. 

All which has been accomplished at a cost less than 
that of a small cotton mill. 

I have deemed it proper to invite attention to this 
recent feature of our system of education. It has 
been the most agreeable of my official duties to give 
frequent attendance at the schools, to become familiar 
with their wants, and to encourage the adoption of all 
unquestionable methods of advancing their influence. 
And, in retiring from that relation of duty to the insti- 
tutions of learning which the Constitution imposes 
upon the Executive, I take special pleasure in com- 
mending to public respect the example of the men and 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 51 

the seminaries that have been pioneers in adapting our 
system to our necessity. The five classical colleges of 
the Commonwealth are secure upon permanent 
endowments and certain patronage. The discipline 
and culture of their rich and varied instruction is 
imparted to constantly increasing numbers within 
their walls, and diffuses its beneficence over all classes. 
But, for the intense life of our time, for an age of 
commerce, mechanism and all the arts, yet other and 
specific policies and adaptations of education are 
needed. The work of supplying them has begun, 
and no degree of public or private favor in carrying 
on the work can exceed the demand. 

HOOSAC TUNNEL CONTRACT. 

The Legislature of 1868, by chapter 333 of its acts, 
authorized the Governor and Council to contract for 
the whole work of constructing the Hoosac Tunnel, 
limiting the price to five millions of dollars and the 
time to seven years, with satisfactory guarantees, and 
further providing that one million of dollars should 
be withheld from payment until the work should be 
finished and accepted. A supplemental act, chapter 
350, modified the former by authorizing the expendi- 
ture of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, (taken 
from the five millions,) upon the continued prosecution 



52 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

of the enterprise under existing contracts and in pay- 
ing off present liabilities, and by further providing 
that under any contract for the completion of the 
Tunnel twenty per centum should be reserved in the 
payment by instalments. This action of the legisla- 
ture was on the eleventh of June, and, immediately 
after the prorogation of that body, the Governor 
and Council adopted measures for advertising for pro- 
posals. The bids were opened on the first of Sep- 
tember. It will be seen by an examination of the 
statement which I have the honor herewith to trans- 
mit to the General Court that these were twelve in 
number, of which five only came within the amount 
remaining at the disposal of the Governor and 
Council, (four million seven hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars,) the others exceeding that sum. 

In considering these proposals for the contract, the 
first question which arose, was, what should be 
deemed " satisfactory guarantees." Several parties 
were ready to offer a bond with sureties ; but, for 
various reasons, too obvious to need repeating, and 
especially in consideration of the long period which 
any bond must cover, I deemed it my duty to decline 
every such offer. It only remained to require an 
actual deposit of approved public securities of satisfac- 
tory amount. To establish this amount involved the 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 53 

exercise of individual discretion, and to some extent 
the adoption of an apparently arbitrary standard. 
After mucli reflection and consultation with the Coun- 
cil, I settled in the conclusion that the amount to be 
deposited should be five hundred thousand dollars. 
It seemed to me that such a sum in hand, together 
with the retention of twenty per centum in making 
payments, ought to be accepted as satisfactory guar- 
antees against the risk of an abandonment of the work 
by contractors, which would probably be more immi- 
nent in its early than in its later stages. Another and 
important element in the estimate of guarantees, and 
primary to every other, was to be found in the char- 
acter and fitness of the men who should be admitted 
to the contract. In my judgment the requirement of 
so large a deposit would quite certainly exclude all 
persons who could not command public confidence, 
and would keep the undertaking from the hands of 
mere adventurers and speculators. I believe that such 
a result has been attained. Nor was it in my mind 
any objection to the demand of a positive and large 
security that it might involve the declinature of the 
lower bids and an approach to the highest ; for the 
economy of a State, as of an individual, may lie in the 
acceptance of the larger price coupled with the greater 
certainty of fulfilment. The contract finally made was 



54 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

"with the third in the order of the bidders, and was in 
accordance with the guarantees required, which, modi- 
fied only in form, have been substantially obtained. 

The contract for the construction of the Hoosac 
Tunnel was executed on the twenty-fourth of Decem- 
ber by the Governor and Council, with Walter Shanly, 
of Montreal, and Francis Shanly, of Toronto, Canada, 
for the sum of four million five hundred and ninety- 
four thousand two hundred and sixty-eight dollars, 
(14,594,268,) to be paid in United States Treasury 
notes or other current funds. I herewith communicate 
to the legislature a copy of this contract. Before com- 
mitting the Commonwealth to the agreement, its terms 
were examined and discussed by the Governor and 
Council, from day to day, for the greater part of a 
month, and with every aid which could be derived 
from experience and testimony. The contractors 
bring to this enterprise the advantages of large expe- 
rience in railroad construction and mining, of dis- 
tinguished reputation in the community where they 
reside, and of command of financial resources, them- 
selves stimulated by confident expectations of profit. 
They have already commenced the preparation ; and 
one of them at least will transfer his residence to the 
iield of oper^itions. 

JFor the details of the contract, I refer to the instru- 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 55 

ment itself, but a few of its provisions demand specific 
mention. It is agreed that no sum whatever shall 
become due to the contractors until after work to the 
amount of five hundred thousand dollars shall have 
been performed by them and approved by the Gov- 
ernor and Council. It will be readily perceived that 
for the period of two-thirds of a year, more or less, and 
through that stage which will probably be decisive of 
the result, they are to work without cost or recourse 
to the Commonwealth. Again, the reserve of a half 
million is equivalent to tw^enty per centum of two and 
a half millions, or almost five-ninths of the entire price, 
which by the provision for reservation under the law 
alone would not be attained in a less period than two 
years and a half. The first of the two acts referred 
to required the withholding of a million dollars until 
after the completion of the Tunnel ; the second required 
only the reservation of twenty per centum, which 
under the present contract would amount at the end 
to only about nine hundred thousand dollars ; and the 
second act changed and so far repealed the first. But 
the contract is in careful conformity to the intention 
of both acts, specifically withholding the twenty per 
centum on each of the instalments, and further pro- 
viding that the full sum of one million dollars shall 
be kept back until the completion of the whole work. 



56 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

The statute extended the time for the cnth'e construc- 
tion to June, 1875 ; but the contract limits it to March, 
1874, within the discretion of the Governor and Coun- 
cil to grant a further extension of six months. It is 
also made a part of the agreement that at any time, 
with three months' notice, the Governor and Council 
may terminate the entire contract. AVithout other 
statement of the details, I invite the attention of the 
legislature to the whole document, which is the result 
of the utmost care and deliberation of the Governor 
and Council to whom the legislature assigned this 
grave and responsible trust. 

I regard the completion of this enterprise as already 
assured within the terms of the contract. It is proper 
then to state what in that event will be the total cost 
of the Railroad and Tunnel. Excluding interest, the 
whole amount that will have been expended on the 
Railroad from Greenfield to North Adams, including 
also the purchase of the Southern Vermont Railroad, 
according to the tables herewith sent to the Legisla- 
ture, will be one million six hundred and sixty-six 
thousand two hundred and fifty dollars ($1,666,250). 
The amount already laid out upon the Tunnel itself 
and exterior works properly chargeable to it, including 
the payment for some work now approachmg comple- 
tion under existing contracts, is three million two 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 5T 

thousand one hundred and seventy-six dollars 
(13,002,176). The amount to be paid the Messrs. 
Shanly under the contract upon the final construction 
of the Tunnel is four million five hundred and ninety- 
four thousand two hundred and sixty-eight dollars 
($4,594,268). The result therefore may be stated as 
follows : 

Total cost of Tunnel including track, $7,596,444 00 

Total cost of Railway, . . . 1,666,250 00 

Total cost of Tunnel, and Railway, 

fifty miles in length, . . . $9,262,694 00 

If now there be added the cost of the other railroads 
connecting with this, and together vvith it constituting 
the through line from Boston to Troy, one hundred 
and eighty-nine miles in length, the result will show a 
united capital of not far from sixteen millions of dol- 
lars ($16,000,000). In this statement I make only a 
reasonable discount for that portion of the Vermont 
and Massachusetts Railroad diverging from Greenfield 
to Brattleborough. This line has already nearly sixty 
miles of double track, the most favorable gradients, 
ample facilities at deep water, a large real estate, a 
profitable local business, and a command, so soon as 
the mountain shall be pierced, of the far-reaching con- 
nections which ally the manufactures and commerce of 



58 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 

the East to the granaries of the West. I never have 
doubted, and I do not now doubt, that this whole line 
will be worth all it will have cost, — worth it directly, 
and for business, — worth it twice over indirectly, by 
developing now latent capacities and resources of this 
progressive community of more than a million and a 
quarter of souls, and by adding rapidly to the tax- 
able property of the Commonwealth. I confidently 
look forward to the day, now not distant, when the 
four raihvays connecting Troy with Boston, the lakes 
by nearest transit with the sea, shall be consolidated 
in the interest of commerce, under one seal and one 
control. The three corporations which, by the con- 
tract made in 1868, must pay to the State the tribute 
of twenty per centum of all revenue received from 
traffic passing through the Tunnel or over any part 
of the Troy and Greenfield Railway, will then have 
a strong inducement for such an arrangement ; the 
interest of the Commonwealth will favor it ; the 
irresistible laws of trade and transport will demand 
it. In the negotiations and adjustments of that 
future day I can readily foresee that the Common- 
wealth need not be largely, if at all, the loser on 
its costly enterprise, regarded only as a pecuniary 
investment. And even if the treasury shall not 
then recover the whole of its disbursement, more 



1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 59 

than an equivalent will be received by the people 
in the economy of their commerce and the increase of 
their wealth. As I had the honor to say in my 
annual message to the Legislature in 1867, the value 
of great public works, conceived in the necessities of 
States, looking not to the specific returns of remuner- 
ative interest for a single year or a limited number 
of years, but rather to the compensation of internal 
commerce through successive generations, cannot be 
computed by the rules that govern private investment 
based on the promise of immediate profit. The finance 
of individuals comes within the limitations of present 
and personal interest; the investment of Common- 
wealths looks for a return in their complete develop- 
ment and in their enduring destiny. So have judged 
the great commercial and manufacturing States of 
New York and Pennsylvania ; and so they have 
builded their material success on partial forgetfulness 
of immediate profit and on confidence in the longer 
and grander future. Massachusetts cannot afford to 
cherish a policy less broad than that which has con- 
ducted them to prosperity and greatness. 

Senators and Representatives : 

In administering the office of Chief Magistrate I 
have been filled with constantly increasing respect 



60 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. '69. 

for the institutions of the Commonwealth which for 
a period of three years it has been my high privilege 
to guard with executive care. Not any citizen, so 
well as they who from this post of observation have 
been called to keep constant watch of the whole 
field, can grasp in thought and affection the history, 
the growth, the felicity of the people of Massachu- 
setts. In the discharge of my duty to be diligent in 
aid of their material wealth and power, of their 
schools and charities, and from the fountain of mercy 
to temper justice, it has been my opportunity to learn 
how strong, intelligent, just and humane is the com- 
munity in which we live. To have been permitted 
to serve in official station a State so organized under 
forms of the highest culture and humanity, may 
justly be regarded as honor; but in private station 
there is honor also in every well meant exertion of 
the citizen to contribute to the welfare of all. In 
passing from one of these relations to the other, I 
unite with you in commending our Commonwealth 
to the continued favor of the God of our Fathers. 

ALEXANDER II. BULLOCK. 



